I'm looking at all of these great looking sewing machines on the board and then comparing mine to these... Getting a serious complex here!

All these GORGEOUS shiny Singers and my poor Alvah with her mostly gone shellac, chipped paint, and dingy damaged decals pales in comparison. I know my machine is well over 100 years old and still sews beautifully but the whole image thing is the pits! Maybe if I just blur my eyes a bit more when I look at her I'll feel better. lol

...Don't judge a book by it's cover
...Beauty is only skin deep
...Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it (Confucius)
...beauty is in the eye of the beholder
...Beauty takes many forms
...Beauty lies on the inside
...Beauty is as beauty does
...Age before beauty

My Singer 128 is a blueface model. Made with no trim and no shine during wartime. The chrome was needed for guns. She is not a pretty girl, but you've got to love her anyway.

Have you given Alva a coat of car wax? There's a lot to be said for a nice shine, even on chipped paint. The decals can be cleaned off if they don't add to her beauty. Then her cool shape could be the focus. I'd love to have a machine like Alva.

I just bought some rose decals for my 301. Those were made very plain and her name is AnnieRose, so she's getting some roses. Will she be authentic then? No. Do I care? No, she mine and not for sale.

Your Alva is a beauty! I'd love to have one like her! If she could only talk-what a history she could share! :)

It's funny to see how folks spell her name. I have it in gold decal right on the front (and the back) "Alvah." Boye spelled it wrong all those years ago and the misspelling stuck. In fact, that's one of the reasons I didn't strip it all off! I've not found another picture of these machines badged this way. And I used tons of search engines. The spelling is also on the sidebars of the treadle. I guess that should be proof enough.

I am going to try car wax again. Where do you find those decals? I'd love to clean her up so her outside matched her sewing. She sews like a dream as long as she is well oiled and I load the bobbin correctly. Whenever I sew, I can't help but think of all the clothes she made for the family. What a Godsend these treadles were!

On ebay - Artistic Balance is the company. She lists which ones need to be fired and which don't. I think Billy on the vintage site knows a source for vintage decals. I think these slip/slide ones will be fine for AnnieRose. I got red roses for my tan 301A and purple roses for my light blue vintage Elna. None for the 128.